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Fanny of F4 rates movies on the amount of flesh on display. Photo: Taipei Times

Ang Lee(李安), Taiwan's pride and joy, expressed great disappointment with the local media after his long awaited espionage thriller, Lust, Caution (色戒), premiered at Cannes last week. The Oscar-winning director was miffed that the front-page reports of major print media focused only on the full-frontal nudity of Tony Leung (梁朝偉) and his provocative sex scene with Chinese actress Tang Wei (湯唯).

Admitting he almost had a nervous breakdown shooting the film's steamy sections, Lee said it was his duty to guide the actors through "hell," and this helped him make it through the testing scenes. He applauded both Leung and Tang for their exceptional performances.

To Fanny of the voluptuous girl outfit F4, however, the nudity in Lust, Caution doesn't seem that big of a deal. Against her agent's advice, the singer who "always talks craps" (in the words of her agent) walked up the red carpet at Cannes to see Lee Kang-sheng's (李康生) Just in Love (幫幫我,愛神).

When asked what she thought of the sex scenes in Ang Lee's work, Fanny said Just in Love had just as much to offer because "Lee Kang-sheng also has his three points exposed," Chinese-language media reported.

The Taiwanese media are all lust and no caution when it comes to Ang Lee's new flick. Photo: Taipei Times

Local singer-turned-high society dame Zhang Qing-fang (張清芳) returned to Taiwan from Hong Kong to celebrate her 41st birthday and threw a party for her 100-day-old son. With a husband whose assets are reportedly worth over NT$1 billion, Zhang's party was grand and attended by entrepreneur celebrities Terry Gou (郭台銘), Taishin Financial chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮) and Acer Group founder Stan Shih (施振榮).

However, the husband, father and investment banker Sung Hsueh-jen (宋學仁) is a man repulsed by the limelight. Spotted by local media leaving the party last weekend, the 54-year-old banker ran back to the hotel at a lightening speed while reportedly shouting "Help! Guard, guard! Catch them!"

Pop stop has to hand it to Sung since one has to be a resourceful businessman like him to come up with an innovative way to ditch the paparazzi in a split second.

On a more somber note, Hong Kong's megastar-turned-housewife Cherie Cheung (鍾楚紅) lost the love of her life when her husband of 16 years, the advertising genius Mike Chu (朱家鼎), died of cancer last week. The former sex goddess married Chu at the height of her career in 1991 and shocked the Chinese-speaking world by giving up the glitz and glamour of stardom for family life. Since her marriage she shunned the spotlight.

It is sad that death has parted the devoted couple, but fans of the 47-year-old star may see their beloved diva return to the big screen. According to Chinese-language media, Hong Kong director Tsui Hark (徐克) already has a project lined up for Cheung and megastar Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) has also called up his Hollywood friends to pave the way for the international comeback of his old friend.

All they wait for is a "yes" from the grief-stricken widow whose dream was said to be a carefree life with her beloved husband at their holiday resort, which is under construction in Bali, Indonesia.

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